Today, on June 28, 2021, on Vidovdan, “For the Serbian People and the State” Foundation officially opened an office in Kruševac. Our Foundation was established by the decision of the Presidency of the Serbian Progressive Party in October 2019, on the initiative of President Aleksandar Vučić, when Bojana Radaković was elected Director. We pay special attention to nurturing tradition and Serbian cultural heritage, educating young people, promoting and protecting family values, scientific research and publishing, improving political culture in Serbia, and cooperation with related organizations worldwide.
Our, now noticed, scientific research and publishing activity is reflected in the quarterly publication of the scientific-theoretical journal “Progress”, and exactly one year ago, the first edition of this journal was published. The editor-in-chief of “Progress” is Prof. Dr. Zoran Jeftović, and exceptional contribution to journal is made by Prof. Dr. Uroš Šuvaković, Prof. Dr. Darko Nadić, Ivan Mrkić, Prof. Dr. Branko Rakić, Dr. Ljubiša Despotović, Prof. Dr. Marko Atlagić, Prof. Dr. Dejan Vuk Stanković, Mr. Bojana Borić Brešković and Prof. Dr. Dalibor Elezovic.
So far, we have published four issues that included texts of their Excellencies Chen Bo and Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko and respected figures from the world of science and art such as Jelena Guskova and Irina Buseva Davidova. Also, our Foundation publishes brochures presenting scientific and professional knowledge in political and social theory and practice, and 17 brochures have been published on various topics to date – Constitutional system (Darko Golić), Position and activities of political parties in the European Union political system (Zoran Čupić), Position of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija and party pluralization of Serbian society (Uros Šuvaković) and many others. Soon, we will also publish scientific monographs.
The Young Leader Academy of the Serbian Progressive Party is an advanced educational program intended for young people who want or are already actively involved in politics. After two years of work and two generations of Young Leader Academy realized in Belgrade and Palić, we will realize a new education module in other cities of Serbia. As our Foundation’s office was opened today in Kruševac, we will organize the first seminar on the new module in this city. The Academy program is designed to meet all the standards that apply to political education and following the example of similar seminars that have been organized across Europe and America for years. The program consists of lectures, skills training, discussion, and debate.
Young trainees, so far more than 700 of them, from various parts of Serbia, have found their place at our Academy, just as lecturers from various fields and different political profiles, from eminent university professors to experienced journalists and politicians, and all of them together contributed to us today having numerous young councilors, MPs, who are in these responsible positions because they have successfully passed the training at our Academy.
With the selfless support of the experts of the Institute for Public Policy, we formed a coaching team consisting of Nenad Čelarević, Ivan Apostolović, Tamara Vukov and Andrijana Jovanović, a team that prepared the education program, and which, with the help of the SPP team, triages the Academy students. All coaches have many years of experience in youth political education, which they gained through training they carried out for OSCE Mission, National Democracy Institute (NDI), UNDP, Swiss PRO, International Republican Institute (IRI), Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Hanns Seidel Foundation, Friedrich Ebert Foundation and numerous other domestic NGOs.
Political education is realized through the Training for Trainers, Political Science Module and International Politics Module. All programs are prepared in accordance with the standards in youth education and do not differ from similar political education programs in political parties across Europe. The programs are implemented according to the principles applied by organizations such as OSCE, NDI, UNDP, Swiss PRO, IRI, KAS and others. Topics studied at the Academy are political and electoral systems, economics, local self-government, public policies, political and media relations, international relations and diplomacy, the process of Accession of Serbia to the European Union, strategic and action planning, creating campaigns and communication with voters, but also decision making, leadership, negotiation, teamwork, facilitation.
The Foundation thanks all the coaches and lecturers who have so far taken part in the education of young people, namely Aleksandar Vučić, Prof. Dr. Darko Nadić, Dr. Dejan Đurđević, Dr. Vladimir Vuletić, Dr. Žarko Korać, Prof. Dr. Dragan Simeunović, Prof. Dr. Uroš Šuvaković, Ivan Mrkić, Prof. Dr. Dejan Vuk Stanković, Dr. Mladenka Balaban, Dr. Aleksandar Martinović, Dr. Vladimir Orlić, Dejan Milenković, Jakša Šćekić, Zoran Ostojić, Ksenija Vučić, Norbert Beckmann-Dierkes, Emil Atanasovski, Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Rastović, Marko Uljarević, Nebojša Krstić, Nikola Selaković, Milenko Jovanov and many others.
The mission and goal of the Young Leader Academy is to provide as many young people as possible with education and the opportunity to improve and learn from experts in certain fields through political education. As an important part of social life, political parties have a responsibility and obligation to invest in the education of their youth. Until now, in Serbia, this role has been reserved for international organizations and foundations, and now “For the Serbian People and the State” Foundation is proudly joining them in this endeavor.
Our Foundation can boast successful competitions for student awards, scholarships, and we are especially proud of that part of our activities.
The Foundation has announced two competitions in the last two months – for student awards and student scholarships.
At today’s ceremony on the occasion of the opening of the Office, awards were given to students from Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Northern Macedonia for essays on “European Integration, Mini Schengen and Regional Cooperation” and “Challenges and Perspectives of Modern Democracy”.
President Vučić, who gave awards to students today, said that his idea was to establish the Foundation and launch the “Progress” journal because, as he pointed out, it is important for young people to understand the ideological essence, and not just personal interest-based political activity from today to tomorrow.
To have young people who will learn and progress and understand that politics is primarily about life and what you leave behind, not how you will live better, said Vučić. He told the awarded students that knowledge should be their guide and that they should fight because, as he pointed out, that is the essence of life and only then will the result come to light.
The award for the first place was given today to Sara Vučurević (Novi Sad, place of birth Trebinje, Faculty of Law in Novi Sad) and Milena Našpalić (place of birth Prizren, Faculty of International Relations and World Politics in Nizhny Novgorod), for the second place to Predrag Pijevčević (Priboj, Faculty of Law in Belgrade) and Miroslav Golubović (Ivanjica, place of birth Čačak, Faculty of Law in Belgrade) and for third place Simeon Petković (Bijeljina, Faculty of Law Pale, University of East Sarajevo).
The awards were decided upon by a Jury comprised of Prof. Dr. Zika Bujuklić, Ivan Mrkić, Prof. Dr. Milica Vesković Anđelković, Prof. Dr. Branko Rakić and diplomat Zoran Milivojević, whom we thank on this occasion.
Finally, our Foundation has announced a public competition for the student scholarships award for the academic 2021/2022. year. The public competition is published on the official website of “For the Serbian People and the State” Foundation at https://fondacijasnd.rs/. The deadline for applications is no later than August 4, 2021. year On this occasion, we invite eligible students to apply.
Photos and video: Source/Tanjug
